Giants' Phillips, Rolle criticize coach Coughlin, praise Jets' Ryan

Giants safeties Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips revealed Monday that they prefer Jets coach Rex Ryan's loose, open style to Tom Coughlin's more uptight approach, according to the *New York Post*.

"I would love to play for a guy like Rex," Phillips said on WQAM-AM in Miami. "He goes to bat for his players. He'll take the blame, he allows you to be you. He's not asking you to hide. If you're a guy who likes to talk, go out and talk, as long as you back it up. His guys are playing for him, and I'd love to be a part of that."

Phillips clarified his statements Tuesday on his official website.

According to Phillips, the comments were "taken the wrong way" and that he was just trying to give Ryan some credit, not directly compare the Giants and Jets organizations or their respective coaches.

"To set the record straight after the radio show that I did with Antrel: I do not want to play for the Jets," Phillips wrote. "I do not want to play for Rex Ryan. I was drafted by the Giants, they stuck with me through my (knee) injury and I'm very happy to be a part of this organization."

Phillips also wrote: "I think that Coach Coughlin is a good coach and a caring coach. He cares about his players, I know that for a fact. He's a straight guy and he expects the best from you, that's what he demands. I don't have any problem with Coach Coughlin."

Rolle, who just completed his first season with the Giants, doesn't believe the Jets are the best team in New York. Yet, he said Monday, the Jets have something that let them advance to their second consecutive AFC Championship Game while the Giants failed to make the playoffs.

"I think their chemistry might be better than ours," Rolle said. "I think they have a lot more fun than we have. ... At the end of the day, yeah, we're professional athletes, we get paid a lot of money to do what we do, but we're all human. No one is a robot at this level. We do have feelings, we like to have fun."

Rolle said Coughlin is a caring, honest man. But Rolle believes Coughlin shouldn't run the team like he's a general.

"He has to understand we have a great team, we don't have guys with discipline problems," Rolle said. "We're going to pretty much handle our own outside of football. When it comes to football, we're going to take care of our business on the field. Just let us have a little fun a little bit, man. I like the coach, I understand what he's trying to do, but he has to understand it's 2011, man, things have changed."